Is She Ready?

Danica Patrick announced today what we all had been hearing about for weeks; she's coming to NASCAR full time in 2012. She'll run the Nationwide Series full time for JR Motorsports and run 8-10 races in the Sprint Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing. Her plans are to be in the Sprint Cup Series full time by 2013.

In Indy Car she has 1 win and it was a fuel mileage race. So far, this season in Indy she has had 1 top 5 finish, 7 top 10 finishes, 0 poles, 0 wins and has led a total of 10 laps. In 2009 she had the most top 5 finishes in her career with 5. She has been part time in the Natiowide Series since last year. In her 20 total starts in the Nationwide Series she has had 1 top 5 finish and that was a 4th place finish in Las Vegas. Looking at these stats, it doesn't prove to me that she's ready to be in NASCAR full time. She has not impressed me enough for her to deserve a top full time ride in the Nationwide Series let alone a part time ride in the Cup Series. There have been other drivers to come over to NASCAR from other series and very few of them have been able to be succesful in the Sprint Cup Series. There are drivers like Justin Allgaier and Michael McDowell who have proven they deserve a decent ride in the Cup Series yet they aren't able to get it because of money. To give her a full time ride in NNS next year just blows me away, why don't you give that ride to someone who actually shows some potential as a driver like Brad Coleman?

Danica has got to the point that she's at all because of her sex appeal. She has flaunted practically everything she has in the GoDaddy ads and it goes to show you that sex sells not actual talent. I have nothing against a woman being in NASCAR, I just believe that you have to earn your spot and show your skill to prove that you belong in it. I respect women drivers like Johanna Long and Jennifer Jo Cobb who don't use sex appeal to get them ahead, they actually work hard to get where they are instead of having it handed to them.

I will never be able to respect Danica as a driver until she proves that she can actually be competitive and stop using the sex appeal to get her places. She needs to prove that she belongs in NASCAR and so far she has yet to do that. She hasn't even proven in Indy Car that she's a top driver. You show me you have skill and can drive a car well and then I'll maybe think about giving you some respect, until then she has no respect from me. Drivers like Justin Allgaier, Michael McDowell, Brad Coleman and Jennifer Jo Cobb have my respect because they work hard to be in the sport and try their best to get a decent ride.

It saddens me that NASCAR has come to the point where if you have enough money and sex appeal then you can have a top ride in the top series. I want to see drivers who have talent and skill racing for the lead not a bunch of drivers who run mid pack and are the ones who are constantly getting the media coverage. The road that NASCAR is going on now is not a good one, if it keeps going like it is then it's just going to end up as a joke of a sport. When you have people like Snooki, who know absolutely nothing about NASCAR, coming to Richmond to wave the green flag then thats when you know that NASCAR had better go back to its roots and focus more on the actual racing than worrying about the advertising. You have good hard racing against drivers who have actual skill and I gurantee you people will want to watch it. People don't want to watch when all the announcers talk about is some mediocre driver running middle of pack.